Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 6/15/2010

Question
i was involved in a car accident a driver hit me head on i had my grandbaby in the car also  was taken to hospital by ambulance and released i contacted this attorney and hired him they led me to believe that i would get more money settleling with them than on my own .first they said the fees were 1/3 than they said they were 33.3 AND IF IT WENT TO COURT it would go up to 40 or 50percent.mY i WAS MISLED BECAUSE I WAS TOLD THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANY found out the my medical bills were discounted and that was the amount they were going to pay. so i was thinking that would be more money for me. ok so then the lawyer said the made a affer of 39,234 and that was all they were going to offer.which would of left me with money  for all my injuries and pain and suffering and lost wages and everything else that i went through and the attorney fees.but it turnrd out that the hospital did not discount the medical bills and my the attorney said they get therws off the top which is 13,ooo and my total doctor bills are 34,ooo which leaves me with around 2,100 i havent signed the settlement offer yet because i dont feel this is fair do i have to accept this what should i do

Answer
Hi Corliss,

This does happen a lot. You can ask the attorney to negotiate his fee. If he takes less then you get more. The fees you stated are standard for attornies. They do not have to negotiate with you but you can try. Yu can also reject the offer and tell the attorney to keep trying for more. That is about all you can do.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh